Linus the Lionhearted
Linus the Lionhearted is an American animated television series featuring the character of the same name. Linus was created in 1959, by the Ed Graham advertising agency, originally as a series of ads for General Foods' Post Cereals. At first, Linus was the spokesman for the short-lived Post cereal "Heart of Oats" (a Cheerios imitation). Eventually, the lion was redesigned and reintroduced in 1963, to sell Crispy Critters, which featured Linus on the box. The ads were so popular that a television series was created in 1964 (with General Foods as sponsor), and ran on the CBS network until 1966, then reruns (in color) aired on ABC from 1966, until it was cancelled in 1969. History with the Macy's Parade The show was so popular in 1964, that Linus the Lionhearted got a balloon in the Macy's Parade in the same year to promote the show. The balloon was 55 feet tall, 65 feet long, 25 feet wide, and was filled with 9,000 cubic feet of helium. The balloon became a crowd favorite and because of this, it kept appearing in the parade well over a decade after his show ended. He was retired in 1983 after 20 parades, but after a eight year absence from the parade, he returned to march once again in 1991 with other parade favorites that were previously retired such as Raggedy Ann and Happy Dragon to celebrate the parade's 65th anniversary. Unlike the Happy Dragon, he did not return for the 1992 parade. Linus will likely not reappear again due to his extreme obscurity. Incidents * In 1971, Linus, along with every other balloon, could not be inflated due to extreme weather. * In 1973, His right foot was a bit bent. * In 1978, His mouth was deflated. Gallery 52294A8E-66D3-4652-9605-F3D7D07FF948.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the Test Flight 8DC73123-4DDA-4D41-A3BF-1862E1A9D445.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the Test Flight 78897.PNG|Linus during the 1964 NBC Telecast 81C4708D-57A1-4D77-94AB-A1E11D3331BB.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1965 Parade 7882DBCF-E5FF-4FE3-9E3B-16E0FDEC1EAE.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1965 Parade DC2F3179-DD91-4D2B-B9F7-FAA994F2F560.png|Linus and Bullwinkle in the 1966 Parade 819AED87-E574-45B8-B4B5-18BA45A1E22E.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1969 Parade E2830E34-A2D4-43A6-9A03-0CF809CF4FE8.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1969 Parade 15026022430 bbdc9a0016 b.jpg|Linus Balloon in the 1972 Parade 5A8DBF46-6952-435F-9B8C-DD34E65EBC7A.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1972 Parade D6CF694B-722A-444C-87D3-1D0694A8DF85.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1972 Parade 6BBA1D78-A74F-4881-9569-54E0931E793A.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1972 Parade NBC7823832983902.PNG|Linus during the 1972 NBC Telecast F694D330-E465-462B-B201-85943613C796.jpeg|Linus Balloon Being Inflated the Night Before in the 1973 Parade Lot-20-35mm-slides-macys-thanksgiving 1 15ae25685207c98e2d59755bb2c84c5e (1).jpg|Linus Balloon in the 1973 Parade 910379A4-091F-46A8-BA4C-ADDE4852BD9A.jpeg|Linus's Balloon in the 1973 Parade 34BB954E-A26C-4242-87DC-F26AA8F64905.jpeg|Linus's Balloon in the 1973 Parade 67010926-9608-40D1-8AF1-E04810026F5F.jpeg|Linus's Right Foot was Bent in the 1973 Parade 4B74C222-0D00-4980-88FF-9CFE5B4B0AE8.jpeg|Linus Balloon with Bent Right Foot in the 1973 Parade 767.png|Linus Balloon in the 1974 Parade 44E1BCC9-1D5A-45A5-ACF1-8222F2639C90.jpeg|Linus Balloon with Ed McMahon, Helen Reddy and Peter Marshall in the 1975 Parade 282CB768-33B6-4172-A2F1-2071BC81E6B0.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1976 Parade 3DA8D660-8AB5-4508-8918-C99571C78807.jpeg|Linus, Kermit and Bullwinkle in the 1977 Parade 529962E6-6CF9-424F-AC3D-B1472C2CEB42.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1977? Parade 1981-press-photo-goodyear-balloons 1 ef9bc33071bb35e29a96ee144dfcf4ae.jpg|Linus and Mickey in the 1978 Parade DF2A8692-9BF4-45B8-B1BC-7DF6D1764B7F.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1978 Parade 1D5F8138-8250-4FB9-B0D2-281C23057B10.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1979 Parade 9922F5AB-0091-4D8C-BB92-1A4818E3B70C.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1979 Parade E3A49D2F-CD78-4C28-8224-FD6345BE0F00.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1980 Parade E892C08F-A8C7-43A2-99E0-EECA58F2DC31.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1980 Parade 59FBA9E2-CBD2-476E-B0AD-ED6FAEB6DA1C.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1980 Parade on the NBC Telecast D1F20D72-123A-4850-9C7C-B05E1E9FF5A1.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1981 Parade 1428F78E-527A-4C45-A12D-30383D656984.jpeg|Linus Balloon was Behind Tom Turkey in the 1981 Parade 5DA9DB50-D9A4-4B99-80E4-68189F366700.jpeg|Linus with Kermit and Mickey in Preparation in the 1982 Parade 3AD33760-C6CF-4860-9C8C-5263CF0BB5B6.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1982 Parade 2EC76510-631D-4DE5-BD6D-F6AE3F0896D3.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1982 Parade 4BD3425B-3056-4482-8727-6A02EFD6FC59.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1982 Parade 26EB90B8-BB03-4F81-84FF-C8C8C4350A87.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1983 Parade 95B16337-CC45-4091-96B5-9E13F8B750E3.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1983 Parade 156AC88C-F549-473E-A0E1-24B980098A7D.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1983 Parade 93368DD8-6386-4262-8680-FFD7F0D5EB88.jpeg|Linus Balloon in the 1991 Parade on the NBC Telecast Category:1964 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Category:Macy's Balloon Characters Category:First Balloon in the Parade Category:Lions Category:Icons Category:Commercial Characters Category:Cartoon Characters Category:Comeback Balloon in the Parade Category:Retired Balloons Category:60s Balloons Category:Not Seen in the Parade Only Characters in One Year Category:Male Balloons